The Ministry is Primarily Dedicated to Documenting Current Complaints in the British and World Press Regarding Mr Dick Van Dyke's Poor Attempt at a Cockney Accent in the Motion Picture Mary Poppins Half a Century Ago.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Things can go a bit Dick Van Dyke.

"I'm not actually using a Southern accent - I'm using my own voice, which I'm grateful for. When they called about the part, I spoke to Dom [Treadwell-Collins] about the character and what they wanted from her but after I put the phone down, I thought, 'Oh wait, do they want me to put on an Essex accent?' because they told me that Vanessa lives in Chigwell. I think if you're doing one-off dramas, you can go and play a character with an accent, but when you're surrounded by people who use their own accents, I think it would have felt really unnatural for me to be putting it on. It could have all gone a bit Dick Van Dyke!"